Flannery O'Connor

A good man is hard to find, and other stories

captures the southern narrative so much better than faulkner 

lily taggart

Presents a chronology of the life of author Flannery O'Conner, comments and letters by the author about the story, and a series of ten critical essays by noted authors about her work.

"A Good Man is Hard to Find"

Chloé

misogynistic, boring, ITS A F*CKING SHORT STORY AND I COULDN'T WAIT FOR IT TO BE OVER.

A good man is hard to find and other stories.

Rebecca C Wright

Flannery O'Connor was a Goddess of the sublime. The main story in this book "A Good Man is Hard to Find" changed my life. I had never read any of the "southern" writers before this and after reading this story I couldn't wait to read more. Not for the faint of heart this collection really shows the power of O'Connor's writing and the conflict of good versus evil and the ambiguity that exists in a world where good and evil are not so easily defined.

Macy Johnson

Great story; nicely written of course, but also very tragic. Explores some interesting themes and ideas that really do make you think. Especially that conversation between the grandmother and the Misfit at the end. Wow. Crazy. I hated how it ended honestly but I knew going in, so that helped.

Andrew John Kinney

The namesake story is excellent, and well worth reading. The others less so in my opinion.

Ryan LaFerney

An exemplary short story collection that has become a classic. The stories are cinematic, dark, funny, deeply Catholic, violent, grotesque, shocking, and truthful to the bizarre realty of human nature. Sadly, Flannery O'Connor was a product of her times, and her overt racism can't be erased away. She is still one of my favorite writers for the way she paints a scene and for her use humor, and her sly eye. But, reader beware, yes these stories will make you chuckle. But a few will make you mighty uncomfortable too. 

Favorites: A Good Man is Hard to Find, Good Country People, The River, and The Temple of the Holy Ghost.

Faber Stories, a landmark series of individual volumes, presents masters of the short story form at work in a range of genres and styles. A family sets out on a road trip in the American South. The grandmother suggests they change course in order to avoid "The Misfit", an escaped convict who's reportedly heading towards Florida. But when their car turns over in a ditch, who should they flag down for help but the very man whose picture they recognise from the paper . . . Flannery O'Connor's famous fifties story evokes heat and dust, family and feuding, God and grace - and is utterly uncompromising in its brutality. Bringing together past, present and future in our ninetieth year, Faber Stories is a celebratory compendium of collectable work.

Faber Stories

A Good Man Is Hard to Find

Hellboy TCR

It's abt 1950's racist America, it has some symbolism and religious undertones. Flannery's writing is sharp and deft. A nice intro to this writer's world, for me.

Lara Reis

quoting a review that i just read ‘“O’Connor believes in God, but not much in people” and also “nobody is alive before they’re dead”. Those two quotes are the representation of each one of the ten short-stories. 

Flannery puts in a way that you might think the only ‘salvation’ in world is to believe in God and to see Devil in people and humanity — very Old Testament vibes here.

Chiyeung lau

What a masterpiece, O’Conner blew me away with each story. Even now, almost 60 years later, her stories are still culturally relevant and have something to teach us. But this was definitely not a light read, O’Conner packs so much meaning and symbolism in her shorts that its best to be read slowly.

Dom Rupp

One of my all-time favorite short story writers. This woman lived her faith with boldness and created upheaval in much of the fiction world writing about themes of graces and salvation. A good man is hard to find and good country people are two books that are unmatched in how people perceive redemption. A must read for anyone looking for something a little out of their comfort zone but also widely known and popular!!!

Dana Kraft

It took a bit for me to get over the fact that these weren't happy stories. Once I did, I found them really thought provoking and interesting. "Good Country People" and "The Displaced Person" were my favorites. Sadly, "The Displaced Person" still rings true in light of ongoing discussions about immigration here and in Europe. 

I read this along with "The Life You Save May Be Your Own: An American Pilgrimmage" by Paul Elie. It's dense but has some interesting insights in O'Connor including this collection of short stories.

Trever

I guess I just didn't love it as much as I wanted to. O'Connor knows how to write a story, but some of them weren't that interesting. The title story is not one of these, though. That one I had to read in one sitting.

Rjyan C Kidwell

There's 10 stories in O'Connor's A GOOD MAN IS HARD TO FIND: in at least 8 of them the sun appears in a sickly or otherwise denigrated form. I think you could make a good argument that most of O'Connor's stories are Dying Earth stories.

These ten classic stories are masterful depictions of the underside of life, deep in the American South. On receiving an early copy, Evelyn Waugh remarked 'If these stories are in fact the work of a young lady, they are indeed remarkable. 'She's horrifyingly funny . . . It's that cool, removed style combined with very black stories.' Donna Tartt 'No one has written better about the reality of evil. Few have written as well, with such sharp-edged compassion, about the weaknesses and follies of humanity, about the operation of grace in our lives and about the necessity of humility. Her stories - her intelligence and passion - can restore reason to minds unhinged by our fame-obsessed, technology-obsessed culture.' Dean Koontz, New York Times

A Good Man is Hard to Find

Ruth Parker 

This book starts off humorous and enjoyable then takes a quick horrific turn. Wasn’t expecting that at all!
Super short read, finished it in less than 30 minutes.

A family embarks on a fateful road trip, setting out for a vacation in Florida. The matriarch of the family, Grandmother, wants the family to head to Tennessee instead, and eventually manipulates her son into a diversion from their course that will soon lead them into danger. “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” is one of author Flannery O’Connor’s best known works. It is also, due to the story’s shocking and violent conclusion, one of her most studied and debated works. HarperPerennial Classics brings great works of literature to life in digital format, upholding the highest standards in ebook production and celebrating reading in all its forms. Look for more titles in the HarperPerennial Classics collection to build your digital library.

Short Story

A Good Man Is Hard To Find

Hayley 📖🌈💜🌸

With a new introduction from New York Times best-selling author Lauren Groff, these classic stories established Flannery O'Connor's reputation as one of the American masters of the short story.

A Good Man Is Hard to Find and Other Stories

Erin 

A summary of ratings for each story:

A Good Man is Hard to Find: 2 stars
The River: 3 stars
The Life You Save May Be Your Own: 4 stars
A Stroke of Good Fortune: 2 stars
A Temple of the Holy Ghost: 2 stars
A story with a title I will not repeat: 0 stars
A Circle in the Fire: 2 stars
A Late Encounter With the Enemy: 4 stars
Good Country People: 4 stars
The Displaced Person: 2 stars

I think it's safe to say I am not a fan of Southern Gothic Lit. Who knew? Not I. While O'Connor may be a talented writer of her era, these stories are in fact of her era. Which means much derogatory slang, words I do not deign to repeat, and overall, stories that make me abandon a little bit of hope for the modern world. While there were a few ones I liked, for the most part the others gave me the same feeling I got with short stories in the past - which is to say, why would you even write that? My favourite was definitely A Late Encounter With the Enemy, and I would almost say that I wouldn't mind reading that again. It did remind me of the book version of Forrest Gump (which is vastly different than the film, for the record), although that's likely because it's one of the only other books I've read that take place in this era in the South. Anyway, long story short (ha!) I'm glad I read this, but I hope I don't read anything like it again.

A good man is hard to find, and other stories

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